Di Data snatches two $40m deals

Distributors

Dimension Data will collect a cool $80 million from two government contracts announced within a week.

The first will see the systems integrator providing $40 million of managed network services to the SA government during the next three years.

A further $40 million will be generated over five years through the provision of equipment, maintenance and related professional services for Centrelink's Data Network Redesign Project (DNRP).

DiData CEO, Steve Nola, said the contracts were typical of where the company was headed.

The SA deal is part of a broader state government project to rebuild its ICT structure after dismantling a massive services agreement with EDS put together in the late '90s.

CIO for the Government of South Australia, Grantly Mailes, said replacing EDS contracts opened up new opportunities.

"We are moving from a sole source to a multi-vendor approach," he said. "We get best of breed for all aspects of the tender and diversify our supply base in the process."

The work undertaken by DiData will include manage monitoring, break/fix services, administration and support for the government's network and firewall infrastructure across 200 metropolitan and regional government agencies.

Mailes said value for money won the contract for DiData.

"That doesn't necessarily mean it had the lowest price, but was the best when comparing its prices and service quality versus our service specifications," he said.

Although sizeable in its own right, the deal is a drop in the bucket with up to $1 billion worth of IT contracts being re-tendered by the government.

According to a prepared statement, 24 new positions have been created as a result of the contract - a figure which includes 18 technical engineers.

At Centrelink, DiData will provide a converged secure IP network with core routing and switching, encryption and public key infrastructure.

"Centrelink was looking for an organisation that could do security, network management and maintenance," Nola said. "It basically put a fence around all of it.

"Security is becoming increasingly embedded into networking and applications. As it all becomes intertwined, customers don't want to have some services with one integrator and security with somebody else."

Centrelink has 25,000 employees across more than 1000 locations.

Its solution from DiData will be based on Cisco Systems, Senetas and RSA Security technologies. DiData also becomes Centrelink's supplier of Cisco network equipment under the contract.

Slideshows

Selling beyond the CIO – How partners can influence the new breed of tech buyers

This ARN Roundtable, in association with Oracle, highlighted the emergence of a new breed of technology buyer, assessing how partners can engage outside of IT, and the skills required to sell across new business units.

Copyright 2018 IDG Communications. ABN 14 001 592 650. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of IDG Communications is prohibited.